The Easthom Page

The Town Council just got this email from a developer, David Ravin of Crosland, Inc. who would like to develop the Residences at Chapel Hill North.  Without commenting directly on its content, I can make a general statement that it is extremely unwise to rush to approve projects in a piece meal fashion when the health, safety, and welfare of Chapel Hillians are at risk with future dense development (whether in the concept plan phase or actual SUP phase).  This project is going to exist in the future with all of the rest—whether it takes 4 weeks or 4 years to approve.  We will all live with the result forever.   

“Mayor Foy and Members of the Town Council,
It is responsible planning for the Town of Chapel Hill to step back and look holistically at the picture of how it wants to grow in the northwestern section of Town.  We do however request the Council also please give some consideration to where each of the projects in the northwest submarket are in terms of the entitlement process. The SUP approval process in Chapel Hill is very methodical. Chapel Hill has more public hearings, staff submittals, and advisory review committees regarding SUP applications than most other municipalities. The existing process in Chapel Hill is not typically measured in months, but in years. The application fee to develop a project over 20,000 SF can be upwards of $75,000. And this fee does not include the costs for traffic studies and design consultants which regularly pushes the total cost of an application to the hundreds of thousands of dollars.Our proposal at Chapel Hill North to develop 99 apartments and 24 town homes in-lieu of 450,000 square feet of office has been under review for three years and has been before all the required town advisory boards several times. It has in turn been modified several times to address the various public and town recommendations made to date.  Projects such as the one we are proposing at Chapel Hill North are relatively small and the ability to keep these projects financially feasible over such a long time frame has become increasingly difficult. The construction cost increases felt over the past few years alone makes the original analysis that much harder to complete. While we certainly commend and even support the idea of not rushing to judgment, we also ask that SUP proposals that have had considerable study invested by both the applicant and the Town not be lumped in with initial concept “ideas”.  Please see the attached spreadsheet showing the various stages of approval the projects in the northwest submarket are in.  We believe that the Town process is a good one, but we would like to please request sensitivity to the timing of project review.  We are by no means asking for carte blanche approval, only the ability to complete the process.”

This will truly be an interesting year for the Town Council.  We have so much on our plates right now, it is incredible.  And we also want to do so much more.  Where is the time?  It’s amazing how much this council will begin to decide the future of Chapel Hill.  We are looking at more density downtown, Carolina North in the center of our town, and a slew of proposed new developments in the northern part of our town.   We are even relocating ourSELVES by moving much of our working force to the new Town Operations Center in the north on Eubanks Road.  We still have a new town manager who has done an excellent job to date, but there is a learning curve for him as to be expected.   Decisions made by the council will be very important as to whether or not Chapel Hill remains a town in which you seem to know everyone, or a small city.  This council only has one year of its current makeup to make those decisions.  Get ready, a new election season will be upon us beginning this summer and into November!  The Mayor’s position is up as it always is (although he or she can now run for, and be mayor for life), and four council positions will be up.  The seats up are Cam Hill, Sally Greene, Jim Ward, and Bill Strom (and Mayor Foy).  It doesn’t seem like that long ago I saw the signs out for these candidates.     So in December 2007, this council’s current makeup will change and a new council (perhaps) will take the reigns to shape the town’s development.  For those reading, have you thought of running for council?  I am always concerned that people feel like they cannot run because they can’t afford a campaign.  Even though our last campaign was not as expensive compared to previous campaigns, the thought of raising thousands of dollars can be overwhelming.   But more than raising the money for the campaign is the campaigning for town council itself.  Many people know about the amazing amount of forums sponsored by all different types of community groups that the candidates were invited to participate in.  There were also many questionnaires to fill out with all sorts of questions about your views, often which were printed online.   To be honest, running was a lot of fun for me because I loved meeting new people along the way.   So this year will be important for council decisions, but the choice of candidates for our next council will also be an important decision that the citizens will make this year.  I am just glad that I will be watching this go ’round!